Challenge
A brand built on winning needed a headquarters that reflected its values while serving as a workplace magnet for new and existing talent.
Under Armour was born in Baltimore, built on the conviction that performance has no ceiling. Its original headquarters no longer reflected that ambition, so the company needed a new home on Baltimore Peninsula — one that could galvanize its workforce, connect to the city it came from, and demonstrate a serious commitment to sustainability.
The stakes were high: get this right, and the building becomes a symbol for the tenacity and winning standards represented by the brand and the city.
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Solution
Mass timber was the turning point in the design. This key structural decision answered identity, sustainability, and culture at once.
Gensler designed the headquarters entirely in cross-laminated timber — a choice that answered every dimension of the challenge at once. Mass timber dramatically reduced the building’s embodied carbon, created the warm biophilic interiors Under Armour wanted for its teammates, and gave the campus a bold material identity.
From that structural decision, everything else followed: the net-zero energy systems, the LEED v4 Platinum strategy, and the distinctive façade that pulses with Baltimore’s game-day energy.
From brief to build: how a net-zero carbon, LEED Platinum, mass timber headquarters gets built.
Designing a net-zero, mass timber headquarters at this scale required the design team to solve for sustainability, structural innovation, workplace culture, and civic identity simultaneously in parallel and integrated work streams.
The process was iterative so that key decisions could be tested against Under Armour’s performance targets and its brand values. Here’s a glimpse at the design thinking that took the project from an ambitious brief to one of the highest-performing buildings in the country.
We partner with team owners, athletes, venue operators, and city leaders around the world to design stadiums, training facilities, and sports-anchored districts that drive fan engagement, fuel economic growth, and deliver measurable returns for generations.
What's at stake
The sports industry is in the middle of a profound reinvention. Teams are becoming city developers with venues as economic anchors. Meanwhile, competition for fans' time and attention is more intense than ever. What clients build today will define their brand, their market, and their legacy for decades.
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Ideas
Design thinking, out loud.
Personal insights, opinions, and stories from Gensler’s global experts, shared through Dialogue, on how design is shaping the future of cities.